Is your organization in freefall? What you need to know about a culture of fear

(iStock / Getty Images) I recently watched 'Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing.' 'Freefall' focuses on Boeing employees and whistleblowers who raised concerns about safety and quality, sometimes at considerable personal cost. I started the documentary thinking it was about Boeing, a corporate catastrophe many of us watched unfold after a Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashed, killing all 189 people aboard. Five months later, another 737 MAX 8 crashed, killing all 157 people aboard. I finished the documentary thinking about many of the workplaces I've entered as a consultant, where a board of directors or a new management team hired me to come in and find the truth because the employees wouldn't talk to them. In workplace after workplace, I found a culture of fear. I spoke with employees who would only talk if promised confidentiality because they'd seen colleagues lose their jobs after speaking out. I learned of significant problems that had never been brought to light because employees didn't trust their organization's leaders. The problem: Every organization depends on employees being willing to tell leaders something they may not want to hear. What happens when employees fear speaking out? They don't. How leaders create a culture of fear I've seen how easily fear takes root in an organization. A manager waves off an employee's concern. A deadline gets met through a workaround everyone knows shouldn't become standard practice. Someone who raises uncomfortable questions gets sidelined. A high-performing manager treats employees badly, but leadership looks the other way because that manager produces results. Each incident teaches a lesson. Many of the most troubled organizations that hired me shared the same leadership model: Make the largest profit you can as quickly as you can. The problem begins when achieving 'the number' becomes more important than what's realistically possible. An employee says, 'We can't meet that deadline without cutting corners.' A supervisor responds, 'Find a way.' A quality problem surfaces. Instead of asking, 'What's wrong?' leaders start asking, 'Who's creating the delay?' Nobody needs to announce that results matter more than quality. Employees figure it out. They watch what leaders reward and what leaders punish. Cultures of fear don't require leaders who intend to frighten employees. They develop when employees learn that speaking honestly carries a cost. ADVERTISEMENT How fear silences information Many organizations tell employees to speak up. They establish hotlines. They conduct engagement surveys. They adopt open-door policies. Their values statements promise integrity, transparency and respect. None of these measures answer the question employees care about most: What happened to the last person who spoke up? An organization's leaders need to ask: Do our employees believe we really want the truth? Here's what employees look at: When the last person spoke up, did the leaders listen? Did they investigate the concern? Did they thank the employee? Or did the employee acquire a reputation for being negative, difficult or not a team player? Employees don't judge whether it's safe to speak up by reading the company's values statement. They watch what happened to the last person who did. Once employees conclude that telling the truth carries a price, leaders lose access to some of the most valuable information in their organization. The problems don't disappear. Leaders simply stop hearing about them. How organizations can reverse a culture of fear Reversing a culture of fear starts with leaders becoming curious about what they aren't hearing. Start with four questions: ADVERTISEMENT • What bad news am I not hearing? • Who in my organization can safely tell me I'm wrong? • What happens to employees who challenge the way we do things? • When did we last change a major decision because an employee raised a concern? Then, ask your employees the same four questions. Don't defend yourself when they answer. Listen. You may not like what they tell you, but you can't fix problems employees have stopped telling you about. ADVERTISEMENT Then show them that speaking up matters. Act on legitimate concerns. Protect employees who raise them. Hold even your strongest performers accountable when their behavior violates your standards. Let employees see what changed because someone had the courage to speak up. Boeing's failures carried consequences few organizations will ever face. But the leadership lesson doesn't require an airplane to fall from the sky. Organizations begin their own kind of freefall when employees decide that keeping quiet feels safer than telling the truth. [What if I don't want the promotion?] [What does your online reputation say about you?] [Can one former supervisor sink your job search?]